204 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



trouble," have naturally been put out, — the 

 more recent arrivals among them greatly aston- 

 ished ; they thought they were coming to a dry 

 climate ; but the residents proper, if not jubilant, 

 have seemed at least reasonably well contented 

 with the turn of affairs. There has been a gen- 

 eral agreement, to be sure (one heard it on all 

 hands), that it was " pretty muddy ; " the way- 

 faring man, though a fool, could not dispute the 

 statement ; but so far as the prosperity of Ari- 

 zona is concerned, there is no probability of an 

 excessive rainfall. The more the better. So 

 much is evident, even to an itinerant ornitholo- 

 gist, who may stand, if you will, for the way- 

 faring man before mentioned. What is not so 

 clear to his darkened understanding is why the 

 weather, no matter where one goes, should be 

 every season so strangely exceptional, so utterly 

 different from everything that the oldest inhabit- 

 ant can remember. 



